In my mind, I am a slave to God’s law (Rom 7)

Rom 7:1-25

Key verse: 25b So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.
6 But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.

Introduction:

So far Paul determined that

3: 20 because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.

3: 21 But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets,

These two truths are combined to set the ultimate principle of life: 3:28 For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law. This principle of salvation is supported by the life of Abraham and was set by Jesus’ life on the cross as the commanding truth for life for all human races (ch 4-5). Though the principle of salvation was laid out clearly and convincingly, yet the life living this truth faces mounts of sins and this inevitably forces people to choose to handle the matter of sins. To that fact, Paul taught why and how sin shall not be the part of the new life that is justified by Christ.

6: 3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

Then how can the baptism into his death actually be lived out in real life? Paul taught that we are to live out that life in three actions: 1) Count ourselves dead to sin 2) Do not let sin reign in our mortal body, rejecting the authority of sin in our lives 3) Offer ourselves to God as the instrument of righteousness (6:11-13). This is concluded that

14 For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.

In the last section, Paul talks about which master we have to choose, sin or God. Undoubtedly, we are to choose God.  Then, can WE choose God over sin as Paul commanded them to do three things? If we could, then we would have done long before Jesus came to save us. The how can a transition from the old life of sin to the new life in God? Or how can the power of Jesus’ redeeming work or his death be counted on behalf of us?

Paul answers this question in three steps; 1) death must ensue in our lives (1-6) 2) the law is holy and of God, working toward His purpose in our lives. 3) the law works hard for two front, against sin, and for His glory.

I pray that today, you may find this hope and set a new life at this hour; experience the power of God of holiness, as well as God of grace that He imparted in Christ.  Amen  

1.      Only by death, we will overcome the power of the sin/law (1-6). 

a)      The law and its role

1 Do you not know, brothers and sisters—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law has authority over someone only as long as that person lives? The character of the relationship between God and his people was defined by the law.

Paul began his discussion on the law with an assumption that they knew the law. So, it’s good to review when the law was given and when that law would end. Though long before giving out the law, God rescued Israel from the bondage of slavery in Egypt, God set the relationship with his people by giving out the Law of the Covenant. Based on this law, the relationship was defined (Exo 19:5-6). God made it clear that the law would never be terminated until the law fulfills its ultimate purpose. That was to set the relationship firm and lasting.  But Exo and Lev, and Deut (28) all point that they will rebel and full implementation of the law would come upon them. God would punish them to the extent that their lives would be on the verge of life and death in a foreign land (Deut 28:65-68).  As Moses prophesied, Israel went to exile and suffered exile in Assyria, and Babylon.  While they were in exile, at the time when the full implementation of the law of the Covenant was effected in their lives, God had mercy on them and gave them a promise to restore them to Him fully (Ezel 33). This means that historically, the law of Covenant ran its full course, punishing them to the verge of life and death under exile.  In other words, the history of Israel itself speaks clearly of God’s will to run the full courses of the law of the Covenant.  The ending point is ‘death or near-death’ where there would be no hope for them at all out of their own will and their own accord. If God ran the law of Covenant on Israel like this, then, He would run His law in the same manner in the life of each one as well. Paul saw this and gave an example of the law in a marriage. 

2 For example, by law, a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law that binds her to him. 3 So then, if she has sexual relations with another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress if she marries another man.

It is obvious to us all that a wife goes to another man while she is in marriage with her husband, she is an adulteress and shall be condemned to death according to the law of Moses. But if her husband dies, she can marry other man and the law does not forbid this. So, the death of her husband ends the binding relationship that she was under through marriage. Though all the laws, not just marriage law, will not be applicable when one dies, Paul chose to use the law of marriage to illustrate the function, purpose, and terms of the law because marriage is about the relationship between a wife and her husband.  

The law of the Covenant essentially concerns the relationship between God and His chosen people. We were God’s people because he created us.  But soon after the fall, we human being rejected the LORD as our lord and chose ourselves as our lord (or Satan), declaring a divorce from the LORD. This was actually not an independence but adultery by choosing sinful desires of our body as our lord under the influence of Satan.  While Israel was serving their sinful desired as their lord, God called them and gave the law of marriage with Him on a condition that they were to cut the law-breaking relationship going on now with the desires of their flesh.  When they were not able to cut off the adulterous relationship, God forced them to death in accordance with the law of the Covenant so as to solidify the marriage covenant again with Him (Hos 2:19-20). In other words, to solidify the marriage for good, it was necessary to bring the death of the current adulterous relationship in flesh according to the Law of Covenant.

The implication of this is made clear and explicit in the following passage.

4 So, my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God. 5 For when we were in the realm of the flesh, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in us, so that we bore fruit for death.

The death of the current husband in adultery must ensue first before the full consummation of the marriage with the true and genuine husband, the LORD. This was fully shown in Christ’s death on the cross. By being baptized into his death, we let the law against our sin fulfilled in our lives. This is the truth in principle.

Then how is this truth at work in our real life? In these three verses (v4-6), Paul identifies three different times of how this truth came and has been working since then. First, this truth was revealed when Jesus died for our sins and was implemented in our lives when we were baptized into his death on the cross (4). This makes a clear transition from life with old and adulterous relationships with sinful desires of our flesh(5a) and to the new life with a new relationship with the Lord. In between lies the death of our old husband, the desires of the flesh. This death came about in our reason, mind, and spirit. But now, in reality, our old husband the flesh and its desires still are with us and make efforts to exert its power.  What is happening or should happen is in v6.

6 But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.

Here ‘by dying’ is in an emphatic position and a participle, denoting an on-going action. The death of our old husband, the desires of the flesh, that came upon us when we were baptized into Jesus’ death must remain dead. Dying is not just a thing of the past. This is a reiteration of what he taught in 6:11-13, where he asked the believes to do three things to ‘remain dead’ in our old husband, the body of sin: we are to count ourselves dead to sin, do not let sin reign, and are to offer ourselves to God. So dying to our old husband is or must be on-going as long as we live in our flesh. This is likely what Paul meant when he said, I die every day (1 Cor 15:31 I affirm, brethren, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily. NAS). If the death of our sinful body has not happened in reality, and if we are to keep our old husband dead while we are still in flesh, and only the law can do this, then, should there remain lingering works of the law to finish? 

[Many understood that this paragraph is used often to emphasize the fact that we are already dead in Christ and the law has no place in a believer’s life. But this misplaces Paul’s purpose and is against the main theme of the Law in this chapter. The emphasis not on the fact that we are already dead in Christ but the fact that death must come before the law of sin might be done away within our lives: This is evident in the structure: v1-3, emphasis on the death of a husband; v4-5 states the fact that the believers died through the body of Christ; v6 proses an argument against a misconstrued idea on v4-5 that since we have died, the law has no part in our lives by saying ‘but, now’ and this is also emphasized using present participle ‘dying’]

2.      Since the law is holy and of God and His will, it works on behalf of God’s purpose in our lives  (7-13)

In this second part discussion on the law, Paul touches on the law’s usefulness for any good.

7a What shall we say, then? Is the law sinful? Certainly not!

Previously, Paul said that (v5) the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in us, so that we bore fruit for death.  The law was tightly linked with our sin and it brings us death. It doesn’t sound good at all. Also, our experience with the law was not a favorable one. In the past, we had experience of the hostility of the law. In many ways, we are hostile toward the law for it digs up dirt all sins that we have, especially when it is applied to ourselves.  It even digs up the sin that even we do not aware of. The law in our hands was not so good or even was found terrible by encouraging and inciting violence and death on others.

Hence, there are two strong forces to reject the law as a legitimate part of human lives.

First, one from outside of the world; agnostics and atheists. They hate the law, particularly the law of God because they do not want to submit themselves to the law that condemns even to the depth of their hearts.  They like to keep theirs as theirs only, the things that are hidden inside. They declare their autonomy and freedom from all infractions of the world as long as their actions do not infringe upon others. Typical examples are stoics and epicureans. Nowadays, I come to realize that the far-left in the political realm has gone far to uphold their ideals as the law of the land, rejecting the law of the LORD. This is a byproduct of narcissistic human goodness tainted with post-Christian ideals.  The nation is in great crisis.

Second, the believing community: lawlessness of believers is prominently revealed in Paul’s letter to Corinth. In the Corinthian church, there were sexually immoral and they boast of such ungodly activities (ch 4-5). The apostle John condemns such antinomian thinking in his first letter and so did James in his letter. Such an idea comes either from a misunderstanding of the word, ‘we are not under the law’ or total misapprehension of God’s grace’ in Christ.

In view of these two strong opposition to the law, Paul was compelled to sharpen the legitimacy and truthfulness of the Law to function even in the life of believers.

The Leviticus lists more than 600 things that man must not do. None of them can’t be ignored as long as we live in our will and in our desires of the flesh. But here to make his point, speaks about the law who is least likely to be of any importance.  

7b Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”

The law represents God’s holiness or His character. In order to be with him in eternity, we cannot ignore it, even a single one of them.

Paul assertively says that it is still useful and important. He explains it by using the 10^th command, ‘do not covet’. V8-12 is summarized as follows 

a.      8 But sin, afforded by the commandment, produced coveting in me that lead to death

b.      Apart from the Law I was alive; sin is dead apart from the Law;

c.       The law is holy and the commandment is holy

d.      sin might be recognized as sin, it used what is good to bring about my death

V8-12, Paul seems to detail what happened to Eve when she was deceived by Satan, the serpent. When Eve was created and received the command of God, the covet in her heart was unknown and she looked to be innocent.

But when the law was brought up by the serpent, the sin in the depth of her heart came out to be visible by her words and became obvious to the eyes of many. This reveals that it is not the law that caused her to sin. Sin existed long before the law afforded her to act in sin. Sin is the culprit. The law is not! The Law cannot be blamed for her sin. Instead, sin in her must be blamed and condemned. This makes clear that the law is holy and God’s command is holy, righteous and good. The law as well as God’s command to obey the law are of God and good. It pertains to God’s character and His will. In no way, the law would do any harm to any human being! Actually, the law works hard toward God’s will to bring all men to Him. No one shall make a mistake by thinking that the Law is not good or obsolete or a thing of the past. It was good and it is good and will be good in the coming ages!

In the tenth command, the law and its function are clearer than any other laws. The tenth law concerns what happens in the depth of the heart of man. In other words, this law concerns the essence of our being. Long before we show what we have in our hearts, this law points to what is wrong in the depth of our being. To restore relationship with the Lord is to have a relationship in the essence of our being, including things that are in the depth of our hearts. By this law, it became possible to unearth what is in the depth of man’s heart. Eve was the prime example of this. In other words, the law is so fundamental and necessary to disclose the true nature under the power of sin.

If the law is good and of God, then what is the value of the Law?   

13 Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! Nevertheless, in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it used what is good to bring about my death, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.

Now in this final conclusion about the law, he replaced the law with the commandment to indicate that the law, as well as the commands, are originated from God. God, by his commandment, let sin be known as sin, even if it is hidden in the depth of one’s heart and let sin bear the its fruit, the death. Here is the sternness of God and his unwillingness to endure ungodliness forever. This concludes one truth; the law is not to be blamed but sin in the depth of men’s hearts. The law is not finished unless it has done what God purported it to do. That is to bring the body of sin to death. Until this is fulfilled, God will let the law do what He purported to do through the Law.

Then, how does the law act in real life to bring the death of the body of sin?

3.      The law makes or forces the transition from death the life in our inner being (14-25)

Here Paul talks as if it is his personal testimony. In other words, he is speaking of how sin is at work in his real life and how he struggles with it. In this sense, these struggles are real and factual. Practically all believers are inevitably going through the similar struggles against sin in each of their lives. Why is the struggle an inevitable?

14 We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin.

Paul lays down the two opposing forces. One is the law and it is spiritual, i.e. of God. The other is himself in flesh that is sold as a slave to sin.

15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.

One thing he found is that he does not do what he wants to do. Instead he does what he hates to do. When he hates something, he is discerning something good from something evil or ungodly. As he discerns what is good according to the Law of God, and he wills to do it, yet he ends up doing what he hates to do. Apart from his goodwill and discerning heart, there is a power that forces him to do what he hates to do. What is that force?

18 For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.

By the fact that he could not carry out what he wants to do, the sinful nature is the culprit. How strong is it? Is it amenable by his strong will or by his conscientious efforts?

19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

He tries again and again with renewed commitments to the goodwill.  Nevertheless, he keeps on doing it again and again. This proves that the sin in him is more powerful than he can handle with his own strength and that actually the sin takes control over his life as the authority over him. No matter how hard he tries, he is not able to control the sin himself. This is the true reality of life under the power of sin. This is the conclusion of his personal struggle with sin in his own accord and strength. That is to say that he fully surrenders himself to the fact that he is totally helpless and powerless in his fight against sin and he needs help from outside. How does the law help him surrender to the law of death?

Here Paul describes how the law of God is working to reveal and to condemn sin him. To understand the passage with clarity in meaning and purpose, all the word ‘law’ is to be taken as the law of Moses.

21 So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23 but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?

He found the law at work. The Law points out the evil in him and condemns it though he wanted to do good. This understanding is explained more in detail in v22-23.

V21a	So I find this law at work
V21b	Although I want to do good (present active)	evil is right there with me (present passive)
V22-23	22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law;(present)	23 but I see (present) another law at work in me, waging (present participle) war against the law of my mind and making (present participle) me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me.

•       All are present or present participle. He is seeing these things happening right now.
•       There are two laws working, one against each other: the law of my mind that delights in the law of Moses, and the law of sin that condemns sin forcing him to be a prisoner.

So, the law in v21a is the law of Moses. This law is working first to give delight and a pleasure to do good (21ba, 22). But at the same time, the same law points out the evil in him and condemns it and forces him to be the prisoner of the law of sin; that is to lock him down to the condemnation of the sin (21bb, 23).  This tells us how the law of Moses is working on two fronts, one for blessing and one for judgment. It promotes what is good and right in the eyes of God, while it points out what is evil, no matter how small it might be. This is like the Covenant of blessing and curse that were set by the Law of Moses (Deuteronomy 30:1 When all these blessings and curses I have set before you come on you and you take them to heart wherever the LORD your God disperses you among the nations, NIV). What is Paul trying to say? Simply speaking, the law of God is working hard toward one goal, to purify our inner being as the law is holy, righteous and good. [Quite a number of authors/translators take this law in 21a along with the law of my mind, and the law of sin in v23 to mean ‘a principle’. This understanding brings in a new idea apart from the Law of Moses—a principle that is at work in his mind. If one takes as ‘principle’, then, the focus is struggling in between the two principles of life, not the strength, function, and purpose of the law of Moses. Though the overall understanding of the passage might come to a similar conclusion, such understanding loses the specificity to the theme of the law of Moses in this paragraph.] 

The vividness of his description in the present tense indicates that he is describing the current situation, i.e., the life in Christ now. There are many moments of bright hopes and victories. Also, there are moments of struggles with sin in flesh for demands of flesh is still at large in our lives.  We are to recognize both and the ultimate victory in life is secured when we handle the time of lowliness under the power of sin, and weakness of our body according to the law. We must bring death to the body of sin through the law working in us. Denying the authority of the law or rejecting the law for its uselessness will surely lead us to a sustained and long hardships for the sin in us is at work. The shadow of death looms over our lives long and dreary.  This will surely preempt our joy and the victory that Jesus has imparted to us in His resurrection.

1 John 1:10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us. (1Jo 1:10 NIV)

The Apostle John, who wrote a very loft view of Jesus as the Son of God than any other disciples, saw the reality of sin living among the Christian community. We have pride in our beliefs. It is important. But that pride shall never be rooted in sinless holy life but in the grace and power of the Gospel. In this post-Christian era in the west, many adopted and emulated the Christian ethics without full ascent to the truth of the Gospel. They found it work well and rewarding. But in the course of time, sin flares up and they have no mechanism to work out the problem of sin in them. Then they go back to their own ideology, blaming others for not complying with their truth.  For us, whose hearts are seared by the blood of Christ, sins in us are ever-present reality that we have to struggle against, while the death brought by that sin by the law enlighten us to see the victory with great joy. In this way, the cross of Jesus, the symbol of judgment and death, becomes the locus of the power of victory through His spirit. The joy and victory come when we look up the cross where we, our flesh and blood, die with him. Only then we see the dawn of the day and bright future living in and among us.

Paul sees in himself a vivid war, the war that he can never win.  How did he handle this war then?

24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?

This is the most explicit outcry for help. It is a most explicit one because he says his total helplessness under the power of death. There are quite a few such outcry for the help of the Lord. Here we will look at the three most vivid description of the outcry: 

First, Jonah.

Jonah 2:3 You hurled me into the depths, into the very heart of the seas, and the currents swirled about me; all your waves and breakers swept over me. 4 I said, 'I have been banished from your sight, yet I will look again toward your holy temple.' 5 The engulfing waters threatened me, the deep surrounded me; seaweed was wrapped around my head. 6 To the roots of the mountains I sank down; the earth beneath barred me in forever. But you, LORD my God, brought my life up from the pit. 7 "When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, LORD, and my prayer rose to you, to your holy temple. 8 "Those who cling to worthless idols turn away from God's love for them. 9 But I, with shouts of grateful praise, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good. I will say, 'Salvation comes from the LORD.'". (Jon 2:1 NIV)

Second David

4 The cords of death entangled me; the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me. 5 The cords of the grave coiled around me; the snares of death confronted me. 6 In my distress I called to the LORD; I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears. (Psa 18:1 NIV)

Third, Nation Israel

Isaiah 8:7 therefore the Lord is about to bring against them the mighty floodwaters of the Euphrates-- the king of Assyria with all his pomp. It will overflow all its channels, run over all its banks 8 and sweep on into Judah, swirling over it, passing through it and reaching up to the neck. Its outspread wings will cover the breadth of your land, Immanuel!" (Isa 8:7 NIV)

In these examples death or near-death is the common pass toward salvation. For until we come to face the power of death and its eternal consequence for our doom, we will not relinquish the desires of our hearts, the pride in us. God called it Israel's uncircumcised heart (Lev 26:41). This must be humbled and this humbleness comes when they were sent to exile.

Leviticus 26:38 You will perish among the nations; the land of your enemies will devour you. 39 Those of you who are left will waste away in the lands of their enemies because of their sins; also because of their ancestors' sins, they will waste away. (Lev 26:38 NIV)

What does this tell us? Paul is not just describing his personal experience that we ought to understand. He is telling us that these are the way to the death that God prescribed by the Law of Moses so as for us to lift up and gaze upon the cross. This is how God circumcises the heart of stubbornness, rejecting God as our authority. In the lowliness of the pit of death, we shall look upon Jesus, the power and source of redemption.  Paul felt that pit as he experienced such moments of sin living in his life. Now seeing the cross afresh, he shouts with joy and victory.

25a Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!

We are confronted by sin more often than the unbelievers because the spirit of truth is with us. The cross speaks more powerfully against sin than the written code of law for it speaks into the depth of our hearts. So, the cross is the ever-present source of renewal and rejuvenation of our soul.

Finally, Paul lays down a principle of  how to go about life from now until we see the Lord in His kingdom:

25b So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.

We are to make a decision to be a slave to God’s Law. This means to reject to be the slave of the law of the flesh. This has to be decisive and conclusive. The decisiveness is in choosing to be a slave of the law of the Lord. Making myself a slave is to accept someone as my lord. We are to make ourselves a slave either to the Lord or to the sinful body of sin. To slave to someone is to submit and obey. Without submission, or without obedience to the law of the Lord, we always stay as we are, as a slave of our sinful nature.